Thanks everyone for your help! 1. confirmed 2. I thought it looked familiar. Apparently, Lavandula angustifolia flowers look like this when it's in the early stages of blooming. 3. I believe you. I guess I'll have to wait for it to bloom for more details.

i am going to suggest erythrina, possibly erythrina herbacea in your area, also known as the cherokee bean or cardinal spear. a more showy species with larger flowers that grows as a die-back shrub in my area is e. crista-galli but i don't know if it would be hardy outdoors in tennessee. they will produce seeds here in zone 8. Here is a link that might be useful: cockspur coral tree

The plant in question is Dracaena marginata 'Tarzan'. And it looks pretty darn good :-) Dracaenas are very sensitive to certain minerals and will react with brown leaf tips due to fluoride, boron and various salts, all of which can be common elements in tap water. You can either use distilled water, let the tap water sit 24 hours or just ignore. A couple of tips: the container must have a good drainage hole - all houseplants require decent drainage. A good potting mix is also very important. Many peat based mixes are excessively water retentive and collapse and compress rapidly, resulting in root rots. When you do water, you want to fully flush the container with water until it runs freely out the drain hole, not just tease it with a cup or two. For larger houseplants, I do this in the kitchen sink or bath tub. Then you do not water again until the potting soil is dry down to the second knuckle when you poke your index finger in it (you can also use a wooden dowel to test soil moisture). And ALL containerized plants require routine fertilization during the growing season. Most potting soil contains NO nutrients - these must be provided by the grower! You can get more detailed care information posting in the Houseplants forum.......this issue has nothing to do with Landscape Design :-))

Increasing ramification (more/greater density of leaves and branches) beyond what the plants have been struggling to do of their own accord would be a product of judicious pruning. That said, unless you can significantly increase the level of light the plants receive, and their o/a level of vitality (health), you'll have those serious obstacles working at cross purposes against you. Growing is a holistic adventure; and, it might be said the grower's only job is to ensure plants aren't being asked to endure the stress of growing at or beyond the limits they've been genetically programmed to tolerate. Even if only one of the many factors that affect a plant's vitality (light, temp, soil air/moisture levels, fertility, ......) is out of balance, it can cause all of the plant's systems to wobble out of control like an off-balance spinning top. I'm often asked by folks at church to rehab plants in severe decline. I only agree to doing it in the warm months because timing is critical and it makes me look genius with little effort. The go-to strategy is a repot into a medium I know the plant will approve of and placing them on a grow bench where the light load is appropriate for the plant. I provide an appropriate fertilizer (go-to is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6) and avoid over-watering. Mother Nature has provided plants with what's required to do the rest. These threads might prove helpful: Overview of Good Growing Practices Long Term Care of Ficus in Containers I hope this uncommon perspective has offered some food for thought ..... and we're open for questions. Al